The massive flooding in Jakarta over the past few days is further proof that crisis brings out the best in most people. It is comforting to know that when the state fails you, you can count on the people around you to lend a hand and come to your rescue.
People not affected by the floods literally rolled up their sleeves and pants to help those trapped in their houses or on their roofs. They waded, swam or rafted through high water to reach those who had been stranded. It was not uncommon to see children, women and the elderly being evacuated on rafts.
Neighborhoods free from floods set up communal kitchens, with food and money donated by people in the area. Women volunteered to cook meals and young men delivered the food to the needy in nearby neighborhoods. People may still be stranded in their inundated houses or in makeshift shelters, but they won't go hungry.
The flooding was just so extensive that people would be waiting for a very long time for state assistance, if it ever arrived. The Jakarta administration has only so many rubber rafts and so many workers to deploy in times of disaster, and these would have been insufficient given the scale of the floods that hit the capital over the weekend.
Thankfully, civil society, defined as organized volunteer activities, has filled in the gap where the state has failed. This has been a spontaneous reaction on the part of the people. There was no command from anyone on high. There was no one giving orders. In most places, people just went and helped, as if each of them knew what was expected of him or her.
Of course, many Jakartans have experience with this kind of disaster. Five years ago, the capital was also hit by massive flooding, and people then were also quick to come to the aid of those in need.
We saw this happen in the first Bali bombing that killed 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. We saw it again in Aceh after the devastating tsunami in December 2004. And we saw it in Yogyakarta after last year's powerful earthquake. But this is not specific to Indonesia; New York in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and New Orleans after hurricane Katrina come to mind.
The world is never short of empathy and solidarity. And that is a comforting thought, especially since disasters do not discriminate about their victims.
In all these disasters, the media certainly played a role in raising awareness about what was happening and the need for assistance. But long before the TV cameras arrived, and long before officials came to assess the damage, there were usually already people in the area, offering help and comfort. More often than not these people were volunteers from nearby neighborhoods.
Civil society has risen to the occasion once again, just when the need was greatest. We cannot say the same thing about the state. Such is the nature of the relationship between the state and civil society. There are limitations on how much the state can do, but there is unlimited space for civil society to act, not just to fill the space left by the state, but also to make a real difference in our lives.
Thankfully, Indonesia has a long history of a strong civil society. Volunteerism is embedded in Indonesia through the gotong royong concept that evolved in traditional villages. This concept, which literally means mutual help, has proven to be very much alive and well in urban areas like Jakarta.
Anyone looking for something positive out of this disaster can take comfort in the fact that you are never alone when you're hit by a major disaster. Let's hope this spirit of solidarity continues as people clean up the mess left behind by the floodwaters and Jakarta struggles back to normalcy.